Cardinal rule the Ducks again as Gaffney runs wild

A year after an astonishing upset of then-No. 1 Oregon, the Cardinal played their ball-control, stout-defense game to perfection Thursday night and again shocked the Ducks, this time ranked No. 2 in the country.

Tailback Tyler Gaffney was a nearly unstoppable force, rushing for 158 yards on a school-record 45 carries, but the Ducks made the game a white-knuckler at the end.

Gaffney and quarterback Kevin Hogan ran for touchdowns, Jordan Williamson kicked four field goals, and the Stanford defense rose to the occasion as the No. 6 Cardinal won 26-20 in a game that shouldn’t have been that close.

Stanford (8-1 overall) took over first place in the Pac-12 North Division with a 6-1 record by handing the Ducks their first loss under rookie head coach Mark Helfrich.

Before a packed house of 51,545 at Stanford Stadium, the Cardinal also moved themselves firmly into contention for the national championship – and those words must lift eyebrows around the nation because the Stanford program was all but comatose just seven years ago.

Oregon entered the game as the most explosive offense in the country, leading the FBS in total offense, with an amazing 632 yards per game, and scoring, with 56 points per game.

Stanford’s defense made the Ducks look very ordinary. For more than 48 minutes, the Cardinal pitched a shutout.

“You control the line of scrimmage, you have a chance to win,’’ Stanford head coach David Shaw said. He called the game a “more complete performance’’ than last year’s 17-14 overtime win in Eugene.

Marcus Mariota, Oregon’s Heisman Trophy candidate, was flustered into a very rocky evening, completing just 20 of 34 passes for 250 yards, way below his normal numbers. He couldn’t get Oregon (8-1, 5-1) into the end zone until he hit Daryle Hawkins for a 23-yard touchdown with 10:11 left.

Until that play, Stanford had held Oregon scoreless in 12 straight possessions going back to last year’s game.

The Ducks cut the lead to 26-13 when Rodney Hardrick returned a blocked field goal for a touchdown with a little over five minutes left. The Ducks failed on a two-point conversion try, but they converted an onside kick. And on a fourth-down play, Mariota hit tight end Pharaoh Brown with a 12-yard touchdown pass to cut the lead to 26-20 with 2:20 left.

What looked like a Stanford romp had become a thriller. Shaw likened the Ducks’ run to a waterfall. “It didn’t seem like it was ever going to end,’’ he said. “But our guys didn’t panic.’’

Backup wide receiver Jeff Trojan recovered his second onsides kick of the final minutes, and Stanford ran out the clock.

“We knew they were a dangerous team,’’ said linebacker Shayne Skov, who had a team-high 10 tackles, two forced fumbles and a recovery. “We weren’t going to let it slip away.’’

Stanford didn’t commit a turnover, recovered two Oregon fumbles, nearly eliminated the Ducks’ big gainers and had a whopping 42:34-17:26 advantage in time of possession. The Cardinal was assessed just two penalties for 10 yards, the Ducks 10 for 81.

Mariota was under heavy pressure all night by coordinator Derek Mason’s rugged defense and couldn’t find open receivers because of the clinging coverage. Oregon was held to 62 yards rushing.

Meanwhile, the Stanford offensive line had its way, repeatedly opening holes for Gaffney even when everybody in the stadium knew he was going to get the ball.

Hogan didn’t have to pass much (7-for-13, 103 yards), but he frustrated the Ducks several times with runs for first downs.

A 57-yard return by Stanford’s Ty Montgomery of the second-half kickoff set up a Williamson field goal that opened a 20-0 lead.

A field goal following Mariota’s fumble made it 23-0, and a personal foul penalty against Ducks safety Brian Jackson was a key play in the drive that led to a field goal early in the fourth quarter.

In the first quarter, Gaffney’s two-yard touchdown run finished a drive keyed by Hogan’s 47-yard bomb to Michael Rector.

A pass interference call against cornerback Ifo Ekpre-Olomu helped Stanford open a 14-0 cushion in the second quarter. Hogan soon bolted 11 yards for a touchdown.

The Ducks finally got rolling, but Skov came to the rescue. De’Anthony Thomas was ruled to have caught a pass that would have put Oregon on the Stanford 2; the officials said he was down before the ball was knocked from his grasp. But a replay found that Skov had stripped him of the ball and made the recovery at the 2 with 8:26 left in the second quarter.